L'Arche in the UK

There are twelve L’Arche Communities in the UK. The first Community opened in 1974 in Kent and our newest Community opened in Manchester in 2013. In each Community, we offer high quality, person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities.

Reflecting the diversity, uniqueness and differing needs of each person, some individuals are supported in their own homes for a few hours per week, while others are supported twenty-four hours a day in our assisted living services.

L’Arche Communities are vibrant places of welcome, belonging and celebration. As an organisation we are committed to providing people with learning disabilities the opportunities and support they need to lead fulfilling and empowered lives.

Latest

James' story

'You can’t make things perfect here. Instead you learn to use the imperfect things as gifts.’
House Leader, L'Arche Preston

£22,173 - £23,379 (40 hours a week). Offered as a permanent role.
Walking Together: Register your place
Will I get a map of the route?

L'Arche globally

Created in France in 1964 by Jean Vanier, L'Arche is a group of over 130 worldwide communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities share life together in community. Volunteers and care workers are coming from all over the world to provide support to people with learning disabilities. All faiths are welcomed.

Residential vacancies

L'Arche live-in assistants live and work in our Communities with and alongside people with learning disabilities. They provide them care and support. Apply here.
Join us as an assistant

Spend a year as an assistant and we will give you an experience of difference that will change your life.
L'Arche in the UK

There are twelve L’Arche Communities based across the UK, where persons with and without learning disabilities live together. Volunteers and care workers are providing support. They try to promote Jean Vanier philosophy. All faiths are welcomed.
What we do

In a world that values winning, L’Arche Communities are places where people with and without learning disabilities can discover who they are and not just what they can do.
Statement from L'Arche, following the verdict at the inquest into the death of Joe Ulleri

Speaking outside the Coroner’s Court in Manchester, Kevin Coogan, Community Leader of L’Arche Manchester, read out the following statement on behalf of L’Arche.
Jean Vanier: Biography

Jean Vanier founded L'Arche in 1964, after becoming aware of the plight of thousands of people with learning disabilities who were institutionalised in France. He was an inspiring teacher whose life was testament to a radically different way of living and being in the world. He created a Community where people with and without learning disabilities were living together.
Summer in the Forest

Summer in the Forest is a full-length feature film about our founder Jean Vanier and the L’Arche communities in Trosly, France and Bethlehem. It tells how two L’Arche communities, though quite different from those in the UK, share our common values, and shows how people with learning disabilities and assistants / care workers that support them are living together.
L’Arche statement following the recent BBC Panorama documentary and the release of the CQC report into the detainment of people with learning disabilities

The Panorama programme aired by the BBC on Wednesday 22nd May showing the abuse of people with learning disabilities, and the recently published CQC report revealing the detainment of people with learning disabilities and autism in ATUs (Assessment and Treatment Units), once again reveals the appalling mistreatment and abuse experienced by some of society’s most vulnerable people.
Jean Vanier interview: belonging in a time of loneliness.

We interviewed Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche, at his home in the L'Arche Trosly Community in France. Listen to Jean as he reflects on ageing and fragility, loss and loneliness, and the mystery that compels people to L'Arche.
Supported living

While some individuals wish to live in a home with other people, others prefer to be supported to live independently. At L’Arche we help people to choose a way of life that feels right for them, and for their families.